The game was highly popular for Namco upon its release, and has been a focus of competitive gaming ever since. It spawned a successful sequel, Galaga, in 1981, and the lesser known Gaplus and Galaga '88 in 1984 and 1987 respectively, as well as many later ports and adaptations. Along with its immediate sequel, it was one of the most popular games during the golden age of arcade video games.

Galaxian expanded on the formula pioneered by Space Invaders. As in the earlier game, Galaxian features a horde of attacking aliens that exchanged shots with the player. In contrast to Space Invaders, Galaxian added an element of drama by having the aliens periodically make kamikaze-like dives at the player's ship, the Galaxip.[1] This made it the first game to feature enemies with individual personalities.[2] The game's plot consists of a title screen that displayed the message "WE ARE THE GALAXIANS / MISSION: DESTROY ALIENS".[3]

Galaxian was very successful for Namco and introduced several "firsts". Although not the first color video game, Galaxian took RGB color graphics a step further with multi-colored animated sprites and explosions, different colored fonts for the score and high score, the scrolling starfield, and graphic icons that show the number of lives left and how many stages the player had completed. It also features a crude theme song and more prominent background "music." These elements combine to create a look and feel that would set the standard for arcade games in the 1980s such as Pac-Man.

The gameplay is relatively simple. Swarm after swarm of alien armies attack the player's ship that moves left and right at the bottom of the wraparound screen. The ship can only have one shot on screen at a time. The player defeats one swarm, only to have it replaced by another more aggressive and challenging swarm in the next stage. A plain and repetitive starfield scrolls in the background.

A Galaxian arcade game displayed at the mNACTEC museum in Terrassa, Catalonia

The game was developed by Namco in 1979, and released in Japan that year. It was designed to build and improve upon the formula of Taito's game Space Invaders, which revolutionized the gaming industry upon its release a year earlier. Galaxian incorporated new technology into its dedicated arcade system board, the Namco Galaxian board. Unlike Space Invaders, which was black and white and featured enemies that could only move vertically and horizontally as they descended, Galaxian had a color screen and enemies that descended in patterns and came from various directions. The result was more complex and difficult game play.[4]

Soon after the Japanese release Namco partnered with the American company Midway to release the game in North America. Midway had previously published Space Invaders in the market, but had to seek new foreign partners when Taito decided to market their games themselves.

Galaxian was one of the most widely pirated motherboards during the early '80s. Numerous hacks were made of the game and featured slightly redesigned enemy characters and special bonus stages. The scrolling starfield and death explosion were still familiar as those from Galaxian, however. These hacks include: Galaxian Part 4, Galaxian Part X, Galaxian Turbo, and Super Galaxians.

Street art mosaic of one of the characters (upside-down while in formation, this way up while attacking) made by Invader

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Video magazine in 1982 reviewed the Astrocade version of Galaxian (named Galactic Invasion), noting that the graphics were inferior to the coin-op and PC versions, but praising the play-action as "magnificent" compared to other console versions.[5]:43 The Astrocade version would later be awarded a Certificate of Merit for "Best Arcade-to-Home Video Game Translation" at the 4th annual Arkie Awards.[6]:108Arcade Express reviewed the Atari 5200 version in November 1982 and scored it 7 out of 10.[7]Home Computing Weekly in 1983 gave the Spectrum version of Galaxian 3/5 stars describing it as a well-written version and praising the graphics as fast although flickery.[8]Softline in 1983 criticized the Atari 8-bit version of the game for being shipped on cartridge, which raised its cost, and stated that "this game becomes tedious very quickly".[9]Famicom Tsūshin in 1995 scored the Game Boy version of the game a 24 out of 40.[10]

Galaxian has spawned several follow-up games. The most popular of these was its immediate successor, Galaga, which largely eclipsed its predecessor in popularity, introducing aliens attacking in intricate formations, multiple shots, and bonus stages. A third game in the series, Gaplus, was released in 1984. As with Galaga, this was a fixed shooter, with limited vertical movement (like Centipede). However, by 1984 the novelty of the Space Invaders formula had faded, and it was no longer successful. A fourth game, Galaga '88, was released in 1987, and imported to North America by Atari Games; and a fifth and final game, Galaga Arrangement, was released as part of the Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1, in 1995.

The game can be seen on the home stretch of various Ridge Racer circuits. On the PlayStation version, while the player is waiting for Ridge Racer to load, they can play a quick game of Galaxian. Also, on Ridge Racer 64 and Ridge Racer DS, a car is available called the "Galaxian Paradise" (in Ridge Racer 64, the car is named "White Angel" like Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer Revolution).

The boss of the Space Zone in the game Pac-Man World for PlayStation is inspired by the game Galaxian. However, the stage itself is similar to Galaga.

Japanese RTS game New Space Order by Namco Bandai Games is set in the same U.G.S.F. universe as the setting of Galaxian.

The End, a 1980 Konami arcade game licensed to Stern for distribution in North America, is a "combination of Namco's Galaxian with Cinematronics' Rip-Off". Enemies steal bricks from you and try to form the word END at the top of the screen. If they manage to finish, the game is over.[15][16][17]

The Galaxian flagship (also known as the "Galboss") has made numerous cameo appearances in other Namco games (like Namco's signature character Pac-Man and the Special Flag from Rally-X, which also went on to become recurring items in other Namco games).

Pac-Man (1980): The flagship makes an appearance as a bonus item on Rounds 9 and 10, and is worth 2000 points when it is eaten.

Galaga (1981): The flagship makes an appearance as one of the "transform" ships, and attacks by splitting into two, then three clones of itself. If all three are killed, they are worth 3000 points, and this was the first time they reappeared as an evil character.

Dig Dug (1982): The flagship makes an appearance as a bonus item on rounds 16 and 17, and is worth 7000 points when collected.

Super Pac-Man (1982): All regular edible items on Rounds 15, 31, 47, and 63 are flagships, and they are worth 150 points each. Starting from their second appearance on Round 31, they are 160 points instead (given that every regular item from Round 16 onwards is).

Pac-Man Plus (1982): The flagship's role is exactly the same as the role it was given in the original Pac-Man arcade game.

Pac & Pal (1983): The flagship makes an appearance as one of the "special items" (that make Pac-Man turn blue when eaten), and allows him to stun the ghosts for a short while by spitting a Galaga-style tractor beam. It is worth 1000 points if it is eaten.

Pac-Land (1984): When the ghosts fly past in airplanes, they sometimes drop flagships instead of miniaturized ghosts, and they are worth 7650 points (765 being Namco's goroawase number in Japanese) if Pac-Man jumps up and eats them before they hit the ground.

Super Xevious (1984): The flagship makes its first appearance as an enemy since Galaga and in a silver form, and sometimes several of them attack the Solvalou at once by flying towards it from the top of the screen. They are worth 300 points each when killed.

Genpei Tōma Den (1986): The flagship makes an appearance in an alternate colour palette as one of the four special items which are left behind by the flame-spitting stone lions in the Small Mode stages when they are killed. It is worth 1000 points when collected.

Quester (1987): The blocks on the fifth round are arranged to look like a flagship - but this is not an official reappearance.

Pac-Mania (1987): The flagship makes a 3D appearance as a special item in two different forms, the second one being the silver form from Super Xevious. The regular versions are worth 7650 points if eaten and the silver versions are worth 9000 points if eaten.

Pistol Daimyo no Bōken (1990): The flagship makes an appearance as an enemy, along with the other Galaxian characters, and they attack by flying towards Pistol Daimyo while firing shots at him.[18]

Tinkle Pit (1993): The flagship makes an appearance with two of the other Galaxian characters (Red Alien and Galaxip), but this time they appear as three of the game's forty-six hidden bonus items (on Stages 6, 17 and 24). It is worth 800 points if collected.

Tekken (1994 - Arcade, 1995 - PlayStation) and Tekken 2 (1995 - Arcade, 1996 - PlayStation): Winning at least seven rounds in "Arcade Vs." mode will reveal the Galaxian flagship on the lower left (or right) hand corner of the screen. In order for this to be seen, the arcade operator should have set the "Number of Wins Shown By" option to "Fruit".

Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 (1995): The flagship makes an appearance in Galaga Arrangement, as a Challenging Stage enemy in Space-Plant Zone (Stage 20) and as a regular stage enemy in Space-Flower Zone (Stage 26). They are worth 150 points when killed during their appearances as regular enemies, but are worth 300 points when killed during their appearances as Challenging Stage enemies.

Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 (1996): The flagship makes its appearances in both Pac-Man Arrangement and Dig Dug Arrangement. In Pac-Man Arrangement, the Galaxian Flagship makes its appearance in Rounds 15 and 16, and it is worth 5000 points if Pac-Man eats it - and in Dig Dug Arrangement, it appears in Rounds 17 and 18, and it is worth 7000 points if Dig Dug picks it up.

Pac-Man World (1999): The flagship again appears in a Pac-Man game, and it must be collected in order to access the mazes.

Pac-Man World 2 (2002): The flagship teleports Pac-Man to mazes. Its point value will be the same as the points earned for the maze it teleported him to (if he manages to complete it) - with an added bonus of 2000 points (its value from the original Pac-Man).

Pac-Man World 3 (2005): The flagship's role is exactly the same as it was given in Pac-Man World 2 three years previously.

Namco Museum Battle Collection (2005): The arrangement versions of Pac-Man and Dig Dug, later called Pac-Man Remix and Dig Dug Remix in the iOS version, feature the flagship. Pac-Man Remix features both the flagship (worth 3200), and the Red Galaxian (worth 2800) as bonus fruits, while in Dig Dug Remix, the flagship is a bonus vegetable and is worth 7000 (just like it was in the original Dig Dug).

Dig Dug: Digging Strike (2005): Just like the original Dig Dug, the flagship appears as a vegetable on Round 13, except it is only worth 6000 points when Dig Dug picks it up this time (as opposed to the 7000 it was worth when he picked it up in the original).

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (2010): The flagship, the Galaxian/Galaga drones, the Galaga Boss, and the King Gaplus serve exactly the same purpose as they did in the original Championship Edition three years previously (they are only bonus fruits).

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (2012): The character customization allows the players to add decals to their fighters' clothes. These decals include the flagship, along with other classic Namco sprites (like Pac-Man, Pooka and Fygar from Dig Dug, and Mappy).

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014): The flagship appears as one of the sprites Pac-Man summons in his "Bonus Fruit" attack, referencing its appearance in Pac-Man's original arcade game. The flagship, along with the player-controlled ship from Galaxian, also have a chance of being summoned during Pac-Man's "Namco Roulette" taunt.

The Galaxian world record has been the focus of many competitive gamers since its release. The most famous Galaxian rivalry has been between British player Gary Whelan and American Perry Rodgers, who faced off at Apollo Amusements in Pompano Beach, Florida, USA, on April 6–9, 2006. Whelan held the world record with 1,114,550 points,[19] until beaten by newcomer Aart van Vliet, of the Netherlands, who scored 1,653,270 points on May 27, 2009 at the Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, USA.[20]